Protective Mask of Mobile Phone

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a protective mask of mobile phone comprising an upper cover body and a lower cover body. The upper and lower cover bodies can be joined with a front and a rear phone housing of a mobile phone, respectively, to effectively prevent abrasion of the mobile phone due to carelessness of a user, thereby preventing ill-favored scars on the mobile phone. Therefore, the deterioration of the quality of the mobile phone and the fall of its value can be avoided. Moreover, trend and fashion of the mobile phone can be achieved without the need of replacing the mobile phone. Therefore, waste of money can be avoided, and economic burden to the user can be lessened.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. CN00252902.5, filed Nov. 17, 2000, U.S. patent application No. 09/888,488, filed Jun. 26, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,194,291 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/673,237, filed Feb. 9, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,941,195, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a protective mask of mobile phone and, more particularly, to an assembly structure used in a mobile phone.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 show the structure of a prior art mobile phone. The outer look of the structure is approximately a rectangular parallelepiped comprising a front phone housing and a rear phone housing. One end of the front phone housing 11 is pivotally joined with one end of the rear phone housing 12, as shown in FIG. 2. An antenna 121 is disposed on the rear phone housing 12. A mobile phone 10 is formed after assembling the front and rear phone housings 11 and 12. The mobile phone 10 can be used for receiving a call, dialing a telephone number, making a call, displaying messages, and setting functions.

However, because the front and rear phone housings 11 and 12 of the mobile phone 10 are very smooth and delicate, abrasion may easily arise due to carelessness of a user so as to generate ill-favored scars thereon, resulting in the deterioration of the quality of the mobile phone and the fall of its value.

Moreover, the design of the mobile phone 10 tends to be more and more diversified in consideration of trend and fashion. The user usually spends a lot of money to change the mobile phone 10 to adhere to the fashion, resulting in waste of money.

Accordingly, the above mobile phone structure has inconvenience and drawbacks in practical installation and use. The present invention aims to resolve the problems in the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a protective mask of mobile phone to effectively prevent abrasion of a mobile phone due to carelessness of a user, thereby preventing ill-favored scars on the mobile phone. Therefore, the deterioration of the quality of the mobile phone and the fall of its value can be avoided.

The secondary object of the present invention is to provide a protective mask of mobile phone so that trend and fashion of a mobile phone can be achieved without the need of replacing the mobile phone. Therefore, waste of money can be avoided, and economic burden to the user can be lessened.

To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a protective mask of mobile phone comprising an upper cover body and a lower cover body. The upper and lower cover bodies are integrally formed by means of mold ejection of plastic. Patterns, types, or nameplates can be printed on the upper and lower cover bodies. The upper and lower cover bodies can sheathe a mobile phone therein. A gap, cavities, and slots corresponding to an antenna, an earphone cavity, an incoming-call informing light and so on of the mobile phone are disposed on the lower cover body so that a user can successfully receive a call and use various kinds of functions and settings of the mobile phone.

The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a prior art mobile phone;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the use state of a prior art mobile phone;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the present invention and a mobile phone;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the present invention assembled with a mobile phone;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention assembled with a mobile phone;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the use state of the present invention assembled 10 with a mobile phone; and

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the present invention relates to a protective mask of mobile phone and, more particularly, to an assembly structure used in a mobile phone. The protective mask of mobile phone of the present invention comprises an upper cover body 20 and a lower cover body 30.

The upper cover body 20 is integrally formed by mold ejection of plastic. Patterns, types, or nameplates can be printed on a front side face of the upper cover body 20. The upper cover body 20 can be joined with a front phone housing 41 of a mobile phone 40, as shown in FIG. 4. A rear side face of the upper cover body 20 has a plurality of flanges 21, as shown in FIG. 3. The flanges 21 can be retained at the edge of the front phone housing 41 of the mobile phone 40. The front phone housing 41 of the mobile phone 40 can be sheathed in the upper cover body 20, as shown in FIG. 5.

The lower cover body 30 is integrally formed by mold ejection of plastic. Patterns, types, or nameplates can be printed on the lower cover body 30. The lower cover body 30 can be joined with a rear phone housing 42 of the mobile phone 40, as shown in FIG. 4. The lower cover body 30 has a gap 31 to retain an antenna 43 of the mobile phone 40, as shown in FIG. 3. A plurality of cavities 32 are disposed beside the gap 31 of the lower cover body 30. The cavities 32 can correspond to an earphone cavity 44, an incoming-call informing light 45 and so on of the mobile phone 40 so that a user can conveniently use the functions of the mobile phone 40.

Finger recessions 33 are respectively disposed at two sides of the lower cover body 30 so that a user can easily unfold the pivotally joined front phone housing 41 and rear phone housing 42 to receive a call or operate the mobile phone 40, as shown in FIG. 6. The finger recessions 33 can also let the user conveniently separate the mobile phone 40 and the lower cover body 30 for performing operations such as replacing a battery (not shown) of the mobile phone 40. A plurality of holes 34 are disposed at one side of the lower cover body 30. The holes 34 can correspond to function keys (not shown) of the-mobile phone 40 so that the user can successfully receive a call or set functions.

A bottom of the lower cover body 30 has a slot 35, which can correspond to a socket 46 (shown in FIG. 5) of the mobile phone 40 so that a user can plug in a power supply (not shown) of the mobile phone 40 to charge or recharge the mobile phone 40.

As shown in FIG. 7, a different upper cover body 20 and a different lower cover body 30 are matched according to the outer look of a different mobile phone 40 so as to satisfy users having different mobile phones 40. The connection and disposition ways are the same as the above first embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention uses the upper cover body 20 and the lower cover body 30 to sheathe the mobile phone 40 therein so as to effectively prevent abrasion of the mobile phone 40 due to the carelessness of a user, thereby preventing ill-favored scars on the mobile phone. Moreover, trend and fashion of the mobile phone 40 can be achieved without the need of replacing the mobile phone 40.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and others will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. 

1. A protective mask adapted to be coupled to a mobile phone housing, the housing having a back portion, sides and a front portion, the protective mask comprising: a mask portion conforming to the shape of the housing back portion and at least portions of the sides the mask portion adapted to be coupled to the mobile phone to retain the mask portion to the housing so that the mask portion covers the housing back portion and at least portions of the sides, wherein said mask is retained to the mobile phone housing.
 2. The protective mask of claim 1 further including indicia selected from the group consisting of text, graphic elements and combinations thereof.
 3. The protective mask of claim 1, wherein the mask includes at least one opening to permit access to at least one feature of the mobile phone.
 4. The protective mask of claim 1, wherein said mask includes an opening corresponding to a socket of said mobile telephone so that a user can conveniently plug in a power supply to charge said mobile phone.
 5. A protective mask adapted to be coupled to an exterior housing of a mobile phone, comprising: a mask portion molded to conform to the shape of a first portion of the mobile phone exterior housing, the first mask portion having at least one retainer which cooperates with the mobile phone exterior housing to retain the mask portion to the first portion of the mobile phone exterior housing so that the mask portion covers the first portion of the mobile phone exterior housing; and said mask portion including an opening to permit access to a feature of the mobile phone, wherein said mask portion is retained to the mobile phone exterior housing.
 6. The protective mask of claim 5, wherein the mask portion includes indicia thereon.
 7. The protective mask of claim 6, wherein the indicia are selected from the group consisting of text, graphic elements and combinations thereof.
 8. A protective mask adapted to be coupled to an exterior housing of a mobile phone the protective mask comprising: a mask portion molded to conform to the shape of a portion of the exterior housing of the mobile phone, the mask portion having at least one flange to allow the mask portion to be coupled to the mobile phone with the portion of the exterior housing of the mobile phone covered.
 9. The protective mask of claim 8, wherein the mask portion includes indicia thereon.
 10. The protective mask of claim 9, wherein the indicia are selected from the group consisting of text, graphic elements and combinations thereof.
 11. The protective mask of claim 8, wherein the mask portion includes at least one opening to permit access to a feature of the mobile phone.
 12. A protective mask adapted to be coupled to a mobile communication device having a housing and a battery, the protective mask comprising: a mask conforming to at least a portion of the housing in overlying and protecting relationship, the mask portion including at least one surface defining a housing-conforming opening enabling the mask portion to be placed over said housing portion in the overlying and protecting relationship; and at least one retainer attached to the mask, the at least one retainer for being retained on the housing to retain the mask portion to said housing portion in the overlying and protecting relationship.
 13. The protective mask of claim 12, wherein the mobile communication device includes a keypad and the mask defines at least one opening permitting user operation of the keypad.
 14. The protective mask of claim 12, wherein the mobile communication device includes a socket for battery charging and the mask defines at least one opening permitting a power supply connection to be passed through the opening and connected to the socket.
 15. The protective mask of claim 12, wherein the mobile communication device includes a earphone-connection socket and the mask defines at least one opening permitting an earphone connection to be passed through the opening and connected to the earphone-receiving socket. 